Team Seven: Missing!
by Neph Champion
Summary: After successfully bringing Sasuke back to the village, Naruto is banished by the council. Tsunade leaves in retaliation, taking the rest of Team Seven and a few extras with her. Life and Times verse
1. The Lie

Idea: This was very loosely inspired by Perfect Lionheart's Missing Hokage Challenge! Naruto is banished for nearly killing Sasuke in her successful quest to retrieve him from Orochimaru's goons, the Sound Four and Kimimaru. Tsunade's response to that? She packs up and leaves, what was the point of her becoming Hokage when the one who convinced her to return won't be around? And where Tsunade goes, Shizune is sure to follow.

Summary: After successfully bringing Sasuke back to the village, Naruto is banished by the council. Tsunade leaves in retaliation, taking the rest of Team Seven and a few extras with her. (Life and Times verse)

Disclaimer: I don't one Naruto, hell I don't even own the IDEA really…

Warnings: Occness, het, Genderflipping (Fem!Iruka and Fem!Naruto)

Title: Team Seven: Missing?

(Prologue: The Lie)

Minato gazed down at his fading wife sadly, today was supposed to be the best day of their lives; their daughter Naruto had just been born. But instead, it had turned out to be the worst.

He grimaced as he listened to Kyuubi's insane, pain filled roars. Poor Kyuubi-sama, Kurama-sama. He didn't deserve this, but this was the only way to protect Kyuubi and the village! Kyuubi had always been sealed into an Uzumaki, but now…

Minato looked away from his wife and looked down at his tiny daughter, wrapped snuggly in her blankets and held tightly in his arms. He bit the inside of his lip as he took in her tiny face, she was asleep for now, but not for long with the racket Kyuubi-sama was making.

He didn't want to leave her, not at all. She would never learn the secrets of her Clan, she would never Play, never summon a Fox. Because of one single rouge Uchiha… He would never hear her first word or watch her as she took her first steps. He'd never find out if she would be as addicted to ramen as her mother was, or what flavor she liked best. He'd never know if she got his cooking skills or her mother's and he _hated_ that.

Minato looked up to one side and saw his student Hatake Kakashi standing there. "Kakashi-kit," he whispered, "Come here Kit."

Kakashi came to his side, "Tou-san? Is that…?"

"Yes, this is Naruto-kit," Minato replied quietly as he pulled the blanket away from her face so that Kakashi could see her more clearly, "Come meet your sister."

Kakashi looked down into her face; she was the cutest thing he'd ever seen! "But Tou-san, Why am I…?"

"Here 'Kashi?" Minato finished for him.

Kakashi nodded.

"I need you to look after my daughter."

"But Sensei-" Kakashi tried to protest.

"Don't argue with me Kakashi-kit!" Minato reprimanded, "I don't have time!"

Indeed, Minato's eyes were already glazing over as Kakashi watched. "She is going to need her older brother because Mama and Papa aren't going to be here!"

"T-Tou-san…" Kakashi whimpered.

Minato coughed, "Promise me."

"Tou-san?" Kakashi blinked.

"That you will protect her Kakashi!" Minato began coughing up blood, his voice becoming fainter and more frantic by the second, "Promise me as my kit and her older brother!"

"…I promise Tou-san…" Kakashi relented.

"Thank you; make sure she knows that we would be with you both if there had been any other way," Minato breathed, "We love you both." He pushed Naruto into Kakashi's arms as the last of his life left his body, _"Good bye Naruto…"_

Team Seven: Missing?!

Kakashi stared at the Hokage's advisers incredulously, were they really suggesting that Kyuubi-sama was a mindless beast? Sure he might not be in his right mind (which he would regain in a few years, hopefully) but he wasn't a _mindless beast_! They were spouting nonsense, but, in order to keep Naruto safe; he'd go along with it.

Kakashi smirked under his mask, let them think that they'd won; he thought as he placed her in the orphanage, _"But Naruto and I will have the last laugh."_ Kakashi pulled his mask down and gave her a swift kiss good bye on the forehead before leaving. Naruto would never truly be alone; she and Kakashi were connected through their minds.

(End)


	2. Really Getting Him Back

Idea: Kakashi being lead to believe that Naruto, his Sensei's precious daughter, was consumed by the Kyuubi soon after being sealed into the child by the counsel; mistreats the girl that, in his mind, would have been his baby sister. So, when it is revealed that, after Naruto succeeds in getting Sasuke back, the Elders _lied_ to him… and then goes ahead and banishes his little sister, a goddamn hero, from the village; He joins Tsunade and Naruto in exile, bringing with him the rest of Team Seven. (Tsunade and Team Seven centric _might_ become Sasu/Naru, Iruka might end up joining the group too so maybe Kaka/Iru also)

Summary: When Kakashi finds out the Elders lied to him about Kyuubi and Naruto after Naruto is banished from the village, Tsunade isn't the only one who leaves with him. An answer to the Missing Hokage Challenge, kind of. After successfully bringing Sasuke back to the village, Naruto is banished by the council. Tsunade leaves in retaliation, taking the rest of Team Seven and a few extras with her. (Life and Times verse)

Disclaimer: I don't one Naruto, hell I don't even own the IDEA really…

Warnings: Occness, het, Genderflipping (Fem!Iruka and Fem!Naruto)

Title: Team Seven: Missing?

Chapter One: Truly Recovering a Friend

It was near the end of their battle. The girl could tell, not only she panting she could tell that the dark haired boy in front of her was also. "How could you do this to us Sasuke?" she called across the valley that was their battleground. "You promised that we'd get stronger together! Why are you running away from me?"

The dark haired youth, Uchiha Sasuke surveyed his opponent; she was a rather pretty blonde girl with bright blue eyes that, in the right light, reminded him of diamonds. Her long, messy blonde hair, usually pulled into a long French braid was starting to fall into and around her face. Her hair was falling out of the usually perfectly neat braid and she was panting, looking as tired as he felt. "Oh really?" he called back to her snidely. "When did I say that? You're such a Dobe Naruto! I'm going to Orochimaru whether you like it or not!"

"Teme! You promised right before we entered the Chuunin Exams!" Naruto stared at her best friend, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "How could you have forgotten? It wasn't that long ago! Sakura-chan had just promised to focus on her training and stop fan girling after you! Our team was finally working together to get better! How could you…"

Enough!" Sasuke shouted, causing Naruto to flinch. "I don't remember any of that. Both you and Sakura are holding me back! That's all you ever do, hold me back from my potential, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto shook her head, trying to stop the tears and hold them back, blurred vision would only be a hindrance for her right now and that would not help her get her best friend back, it wouldn't help her knock some sense into him! "You're wrong Uchiha Sasuke! Who will you spar with if you leave? Who will help you and push you forward? Who will help you achieve your dreams? If not Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan and I then who?"

"Orochimaru." Came the flat answer.

Naruto's breath hitched, her best friend/crush's answer made her sick to her stomach. "He's only using you! He wants your body! Your Kekkei Genkai, your Sharingan! Noting good will come of this Sasuke-kun! Can come of this, you will die if you go to him, I know it! You _hate_ that damn seal!" why wasn't he seeing sense, this wasn't like him at all! Her best friend was acting out of character! "He will use you, and when he can't any longer, he will throw you away like a used up, broken toy… don't you remember your second goal? You wanted to revive your clan and restart the Konoha Military Police, didn't you? You can't do that outside the village…"

She knew for a fact those goals had been more important to him when their ninja careers began. He had listed them before saying that he wanted to kill his brother after all! What the hell had changed? They, all four of them, had been growing closer, Kakashi-sensei had even been opening up and was telling them bits and pieces of his life during the Third Shinobi War, little tidbits about his team and his own Sensei.

She remembered her teammate's reactions clearly, Sakura had squealed and started going on about how lucky Kaka-sensei was, for being a student of the famed Kiiroi Senko. The second shinobi to _ever_ get the _Flee on Sight_ order. If she hadn't been so good at reading body language, she would have missed the excited gleam in Sasuke's eyes, he also couldn't wait. Maybe they'd learn some of his secrets, like the jutsu that had given him that moniker: the Hiraishin no jutsu…

Now, all those dreams seemed to be shattered and scattered on the ground between them. 'If he wants to fight more I'll have to call on Kyuubi and I hate doing that… I may be a Jinjuuriki, but I don't like relying on the chakra of my Bijuu…' Naruto thought as she watched Sasuke carefully. Kyuubi's chakra was painful to use, after she'd summoned Gamabunta the first time, she'd been so sore. She'd passed out from not just the chakra exhaustion, but also from the pain of using Kyuubi's chakra. If it hadn't been for the last part of the Chuunin exam that took place the next day, she'd have stayed in bed the whole week it had been so painful. And then having to use Kyuubi's chakra to reopen her tenketsu had been made even more painful because she was still sore from using the chakra the day before! Even if the pain had dulled to a throbbing ache. Stupid Neji…

Really, what had Yondaime-sama been thinking, giving her a tool that hurt her as she used it? But she was getting off topic. Why didn't Sasuke remember that promise he'd made to both, grow stronger together and to never use the Cursed Seal if he could help it? Why weren't her words reaching him? Where was her calm, always cool and collected best friend? Where was her voice of reason? Where was he? She suspected that he was lost in the darkness of his own mind. 'I will free you from the darkness, Sa-kun. I promise.'

Sasuke lunged at her again, coming in hard and fast, his fist cocked back as far as it would go to deliver the most painful blow that he could. Naruto saw it coming a mile away, but she had not the time to move, she was trying to pull out as much of Kyuubi's chakra as she could without going crazy.

Sasuke smirked as he heard the very satisfying crack of Naruto's left arm breaking. Her scream of pain was beautiful. He tried to punch her again, but her hand came up and caught his. Sasuke blinked, her hand was different; her nails were so long they looked like claws. He was tempted to say that they really were claws. When he looked at her face, the cute whisker marks that she'd always had were darker and more defined than before. When her eyes opened, they were a bloody red and her pupils were slits, much like that of a fox, or a Namikaze, according to the history books.

From what Sasuke could remember reading, the Namikaze Clan had owned the Fox Summoning contract since even before the Sage of Six Paths had appeared. With each generation they had become more and more fox-like until they had had to conceal these traits, at first they had been like the Inuzuka, in that they had to use jutsu to look more animalistic, but it had gotten to the point that they were born that way; they'd had to use a concealment jutsu since then. In one of the old Bingo books he'd looked at he'd seen a _Kill on Sight_ order. He'd also read that they could make their ears more fox-like if they channeled chakra into them, and could create any number of tails with chakra as a show of how big their reserves were. The difference with the chakra tail he saw on Naruto now and the tails of the Namikaze was that the Namikaze's tails were real, not chakra, the same with the ears.

Naruto looked positively feral in Sasuke's opinion.

Naruto found her vision hazy, it wasn't good, any more than maybe one more tail and she'd completely lose her high brain functions, she was here to knock Sasuke back to his senses, not kill him after all. Orochimaru had basically stolen her best friend, there was no way that she was going to lie down and let it happen!

She punched him back as hard as she could. "I will take you back to the village Sasuke! Even if I have to break every single bone in your body to do it!" she told him in a whisper with such conviction that he was sure if he gave her a chance to do so, she would.

"Heh, you can try, Dobe." He snarled back, ready and willing to kill her if he was given the chance.

Naruto flinched again. So what if he was the last of a huge clan? So what if she was a clan less nobody, she would not let him talk like that to her, or to Sakura. "You're asking for a beating, Teme."

"I dare you to try!" he shot back.

The fight went on like that for a while, until he activated his curse seal to match the one tail of Kyuubi's chakra that she was using. She would admit that he might look kind of cool like that, but was that power really worth the price he paid for it? No, she didn't think so. He hadn't thought so either, so what had happened?

She watched him disappear and closed her eyes, she couldn't hear him. Where was he? There were things she could do to enhance her hearing, but she had never tried them before. The easiest way, was to just channel chakra into her ears. So that was what she was going to try first.

Sasuke's eyes widened when, slowly, her ears began to change shape. Her ears, which he had always liked, first became angular at the tips and then began to stretch out and started to look like an animal's ears, a foxes, to be more precise; then fur sprouted on them, soft looking golden fur turned white at the very tips of her ears. "N-Namikaze…" Sasuke breathed, knowing that he had just given himself away but not caring at all. The Namikaze had been given the _Kill on Sight_ order for one reason, and one reason only: they were invincible when working together with their fox summons partners. But they were the most reliable teammates or ally a shinobi could ever find anywhere.

Naruto's ears perked as she heard Sasuke's gasp. She giggled. "Found you, Sa-kun." She lunged punching him in the gut so hard that he nearly passed out. His return punch was just as hard and left her reeling. This next attack would be the last one; he had to make it count!

Naruto stilled, shaking her head. She only had enough for one more attack. "I have to make this count, if I don't get through to Sasuke now, I'll never get through to him and I'll lose him!" Team Seven would become shattered, irreparable.

"Heh, I think that's enough of a warm up, don't you, Na-chan?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

Naruto growled, snarling. "Don't fuck with me Sa-kun! If I have to break both your arms and legs and carry you back myself I will!"

Sasuke flinched slightly before smirking and activating the second level of his curse seal.

The fox-eared girl gasped slightly. _That_ wasn't her Sa-kun! She snarled as she pulled out even more of Kyuubi's chakra, wincing as a second tail formed and her vision hazed red, it was even harder for her to think now but she could, just barely. She stood there and then formed the cross hand seal and created a Kage Bunshin. She held a hand out and watched Sasuke as her clone helped her to create the Rasengan, one of the Kiiroi Senko's attacks; one that he'd created.

Sasuke or the _thing_ wearing his skin began to create a Chidori as Naruto created a Rasengan. When the preparations for both attacks were complete, they lunged one last time, meeting in the center of the waterfall.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

They cried in tandem as both hit their marks. Then, as one, both combatants fell, miraculously, onto solid ground and passed out, one nearly on top of the other.

Team Seven: Missing?

After quite some time, one of the downed figures began to stir, his eyes opening slowly. He groaned as he sat up. "What the hell…?" He looked around. "How the hell did I get here? The last thing I _really_ remember… was being in the forest for the second part of the Chuunin exam and getting bitten by… that guy… Orochimaru…"

Sasuke looked to the side and gasped. "Na-chan? Na-chan! What the hell? What happened?" that was when he saw the hole in her chest. He knew of only one jutsu that could do that to a person, and that was Kaka-sensei's Chidori… "No… Na-chan, what did I do to you…?" he very vaguely remembered making a promise to never use the seal that Orochimaru had given him, to grow stronger together with his Na-chan, his annoying sister Sakura-chan and Kaka-sensei. The promise to fulfill their dreams together.

Sasuke looked closer, the hole in his Na-chan's chest wasn't healing like it normally would which was bad. He had to get her back to Konoha as fast as he could. She needed medical attention, and she needed it five minutes ago. "Hang on Na-chan; I'll get you back to Konoha, safe and sound. I won't let you die here…" He told her as he picked her up, knowing that she couldn't hear him. "Who would help me fulfill my dreams of restarting the Konoha Military Police and Reviving my clan? I can't do it without you… Na-chan…"

Sasuke leapt away from the ruble of the founder's statues, running as fast as he could in his worn out state. He was remembering bits and pieces of his last battle with his crush and flinched. He'd said a lot of things that he would never mean, things that he had thought he would never say to her. He hated himself… but what he remembered that was most surprising; was the fact that her ears had become blonde furred fox ears with white tips. He remembered that that was something only a Namikaze could do. The heir to the clan, if he or she was ever found; was going to be put under the Clan Restoration Act, like he was currently. There was only one way to get out of that Act. And that was to marry before the age of sixteen. It looked like his Na-chan was the heir to the Namikaze Clan, to protect her and himself from the CRA; he had to ask her to marry him. And he had to do it soon. Sasuke grimaced at how much blood she was losing and pushed his tired legs to go faster. If he didn't get back to the village soon, the Namikaze heir was going to die! "Hang on Na-chan, just a little longer, please…" He breathed into her ear as he began to jump through the trees.

Team Seven: Missing?

Kakashi pushed himself to go as fast as he could as he headed to where Sasuke and Naruto had been last seen. He had to stop this mess. Sasuke had just a month ago started to act strangely out of character. It had started worrying the whole team though they had tried to go about business as usual. It was getting harder to believe that the Kyuubi had consumed his baby sister's soul by the day, especially with Iruka's help. And once he was absolutely sure that Naruto was really Naruto-imouto, he would start teaching them all how to 'Play' just like Minato-sensei had taught him, and Rin and Obito once they had joined the team. Pakkun, who was in front of him was just as worried and was, at the moment, having no problem keeping up. "Pakkun, how much farther?" there was growing panic in his voice.

"Not too much father Kakashi, the signatures are actually coming towards us, can't you tell?" Pakkun replied, noting the panic in his partner's voice. He himself had grown attached to Kakashi's pups while he was with them during the invasion.

"Really?" Kakashi let his senses flare out around them and very quickly pinpointed Naruto and Sasuke's chakra signatures. They were quickly approaching. "Thank Kami-sama!" He breathed, "That one of them is well enough to carry the other!" They pushed themselves faster still to meet up with Kakashi's students. He was still panicked but now he could control it, knowing that one was well enough to care for the other. Maybe he should invest in teaching all three of his students at least the most basic medical ninjutsu…

Team Seven: Missing?

Sasuke smiled as he spotted Kakashi coming their way fast. "Kaka-sensei!" He called, "Na-chan needs help!" He pushed himself just a bit more to meet his sensei in the middle of the clearing.

Kakashi stopped a few feet away to survey his two students, Sasuke was obviously the less injured as he was carrying Naruto, but, his imouto didn't look too good. "What happened Sasuke?" He asked, a bit cautiously. Sasuke had been acting strangely, but now it seemed that he was back to normal, but he had to make sure. "Are you ok?"

"Why are you asking about me Kaka-sensei? Na-chan will die if we don't get her to the hospital really soon!" Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Why did Kaka-sensei choose _now_ to play favorites with him? Maybe a more direct approach would work? But how much more direct could he be? "Na-chan has a freaking hole in her chest! I'm tired; I might not get her there fast enough to save her! I'm also injured! But Na-chan… Na-chan…"

Kakashi pulled his imouto from her teammate's arms. "Keep up." Was all he said before he started speeding back towards the village.

"Hai!" Sasuke called as he tried desperately to keep up with his sensei. He remembered… "Did I, did I really almost become lower than trash…?" Sasuke wondered.

'I promised myself I would never become my brother, that I would never kill my best friend!' and yet… he almost had. The regret was to much! If she died, he would get the Mangekyo, but was it truly worth it? If he got it from this then cool! But if she really died… "Sensei…?"

"Yes Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Is, is it possible to become someone else?" his student asked quietly.

"No. I will never be my father, no matter how hard I may try to be, and I will never be my Sensei, even if I knew how to use the Hiraishin." Kakashi told him firmly. "You will never be your brother."

Sasuke sighed in relief. "He told me, that to get the next level of the Sharingan; I had to kill my best friend. After meeting Na-chan for the first time after the Massacre, I vowed to never try to obtain it, it would hurt too much. Na-chan is my best friend, I have no idea how this happened…" he confessed. "I feel like I've woken up from a very long dream…"

"Sasuke…" Kakashi breathed.

"I will take any punishment Hokage-sama sees fit to give me, no matter how harsh. It's what I deserve for almost killing Na-chan…" the rest of the journey was silent.

Team Seven: Missing?

Tsunade was just telling Shikamaru that Chouji's operation had been successful when the doors slammed open and shouts were heard.

"Tsunade-sama!" Was that Sasuke's voice? "Na-chan…" Ok, yes it was.

She turned to see a limping Sasuke and running Kakashi approaching her with a pail, bleeding Naruto. "Hokage-sama," Sasuke pleaded, "Please; help Na-chan, if you don't, she'll die."

"Shizune!" Tsunade shouted. "Have a team prep OR three!" Oh god… Naruto…

If the little bastard was right, then they didn't have very much time to get to work at all! Her little successor was on thin ice and the ice was getting thinner by the second! "Hang in there Naruto…"

Sasuke collapsed into a seat. "You're safe now Na-chan…" He breathed.

That was when it struck Tsunade, she remembered being around Minato and Kushina when they were dating and after they were married. Minato was always calling Kushina Ku-chan, and she always called him Mina-kun or Mi-kun. It was happening again. She hoped, for Naruto's sake alone, that Sasuke never tried to run again. But she could worry about that later; she had a Kunoichi to save.

Team Seven: Missing?

In another part of the village, the Konoha Shinobi and Civilian counsels convened to decide the fate of a Shinobi and Kunoichi.

(End Chapter One)

Ok! That's the first chapter recovered! I think it looks ok…

So yeah! Sorry it took so long! I only hope what I've got will work with the new prologue…

Neph


	3. The Truth about the Seal and the Meeting

Idea: Kakashi being lead to believe that Naruto, his Sensei's precious daughter, was consumed by the Kyuubi soon after being sealed into the child by the counsel; mistreats the girl that, in his mind, would have been his baby sister. So, when it is revealed that, after Naruto succeeds in getting Sasuke back, the Elders _lied_ to him… and then goes ahead and banishes his little sister, a goddamn hero, from the village; He joins Tsunade and Naruto in exile, bringing with him the rest of Team Seven. (Tsunade and Team Seven centric _might_ become Sasu/Naru, Iruka might end up joining the group too so maybe Kaka/Iru also)

Summary: When Kakashi finds out the Elders lied to him about Kyuubi and Naruto after Naruto is banished from the village, Tsunade isn't the only one who leaves with him. An answer to the Missing Hokage Challenge, kind of.

Title: Team Seven: Missing?

(Chapter Two: The Truth about the Seal and the Meeting)

Almost ten hours later, when Tsunade stepped out of the third Operating Room she noticed that Shikamaru, Sasuke and Kakashi weren't the only ones there any more. During the wait, Sakura, Ino Hinata and Iruka had arrived. It looked like Sasuke and Sakura had been crying on each other's shoulders and Kakashi by the way Kakashi was holding Iruka… they all turned to her when they heard her footsteps. Sasuke was the first to speak.

"Na-chan; how is she? Will she make it?" he sounded almost panicked and his Sharingan eyes were rapidly changing between a pinwheel shape and the three tomoe.

"She's stable now; we almost lost her several times. I'm surprised that she was still alive when we got her to the operating room." Tsunade informed them; relief caused all those waiting to sag. "Shikamaru, congratulations on retrieving Uchiha Sasuke. Your first mission as a Chuunin was a success. All that's left is to punish him. I will tell you now, it will lighter than it would have been, as he carried Naruto as far as he could."

Sasuke sagged in bitter relief. This was all his fault, he just knew it. "I will submit to any punishment you see fit to give me, Hokage-sama" He said quietly. "I will… even leave the village if that is what you decree." His dreams of reviving his clan and restarting the Military Police were a small price to pay really, compared to what he had almost made Na-chan pay. His Na-chan was the most wonderful person in the world… the fact that he had almost extinguished her life with his own hands…

Tsunade shook her head. "That won't be necessary, Sasuke."

Sasuke's head shot up, but he didn't dare say anything, lest she change her mind.

"I haven't decided what your punishment will be just yet. You may go visit her in a bit when she is settled into her room." Tsunade's eyes narrowed, "In the meantime, you can give me your account of what happened, Kakashi, you come also."

Kakashi and Sasuke nodded, following after the Hokage after both give one last look at the doors to the OR. _"Naruto, are you alright?"_ Kakashi asked, but he got no response.

As Sasuke followed the Hokage and his sensei, he felt as if he was missing several months of his life. He was remembering bits and pieces, but they were scattered like puzzle pieces and Sasuke was sure that he was missing several. And the pieces he did have had no real order, making it hard to make any sense of well, anything after a certain point.

The three stepped into her office in the hospital and Tsunade closed the door behind them. She walked over to her desk and sat down. "Sit. Both of you."

Sasuke sat obediently. There was no way he was going to give her anything else to punish him for.

"Sasuke." Tsunade said sharply, causing the already scared child-shinobi to jump slightly in his seat and flinch.

"Y-yes, Godaime Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked in a quiet, submissive voice.

"Can you give me an accurate account of the events leading up to and including your defection and battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End?" she inquired.

Sasuke blinked. "I will certainly do my best, Hokage-sama…" He began. "The last clear memory I have is getting bitten by Orochimaru-teme. After that, I only remember bits and pieces but I will try to paint as clear a picture as possible."

"Go on." Tsunade prompted less harshly than before. "Tell us all you can."

Sasuke nodded as he closed his eyes to try and put his fragmented memories in some kind of order. "Well, as I said, my last clear memory was of your ex-teammate biting me. After that I kind of remember waking up in the middle of an attack by Oto ninja. I can't really remember what I did to our opponents. After that I'm pretty sure we meet up with Kabuto and fought some Ame shinobi. We weren't attacked after that and we made it to the tower in one piece. I think, in the preliminaries for the third round I fought one of Kabuto's teammates. And I'm rather certain that it was an early match, though I can't get more specific than that. You sealed, or at least tried to, the curse mark that Hebi-teme gave me, didn't you Sensei?"

Kakashi nodded. "That I did."

"Well it worked somewhat, for a while because after that I clearly remember telling Na-chan and Sakura that I would not use the thing if I could help it. I remember the month of training as well, but not quite as clearly. I do remember, vaguely, fighting Gaara in the third round and the invasion. I'm sorry but fighting Gaara during the invasion is really hazy because I was forced to use the 'hickey of doom' as Naruto put it. I can barely remember the talk Kaka-sensei and I had about precious people. But not long after sensei left… I had a fight with the guys that kidnapped me. That night I remember wondering why I was packing when everything I needed to fulfill my goals were at my fingertips here in Konoha." Sasuke bit his lip, trying to remember more. "After that… I don't remember anything… just waking up, almost on top of Na-chan. And Na-chan having two holes in her chest, bleeding badly. And finally, trying to get back to the village as fast as I possibly could so that she wouldn't die!" he wasn't facing the Hokage or his Sensei, Sasuke's head was turned down, trying desperately to hide the tears in his eyes. That; and he was trying desperately to protect his best friend from the CRA. He didn't know how they would react to Na-chan being a Namikaze, and he didn't want them to put her under the CRA at all.

"That's all I remember." He said finally. He hated lying to his leader and Sensei, but right now it couldn't be helped. He had to keep Na-chan safe.

Tsunade and Kakashi were both rather disturbed. "What kind of seal…" Kakashi began.

"Not only warps a person's personality but messes with their mind?" Tsunade finished.

Neither of them knew, they weren't even sure they wanted to know. But they needed to. It was a good thing Jiraiya was in the village. Sasuke's very sanity might depend on it, and the added bonus of; perhaps, being able to rid another loyal ninja of the same kind of seal was too good to miss out on.

Team Seven: Missing?

At the same time, in the counsel chambers a few buildings away, the heads of the major and minor ninja clans and the civilian counsel were convening. Homura and Koharu had made sure long ago that the proxies for the Uzumaki and the Namikaze, two of the most important clans in Konoha, (one being the famed Fox Clan and the other being foreign royalty) were on their side. All of the civilians would vote their way as would all the minor clans.

"This meeting is now in session," Danzou called from the head of the table. He and the other elders felt that they were doing the Hokage a favor, while she was taking care of the reports of the mission, they would decide on several different punishments for two of the concerned Genin. Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke both had to be punished somehow.

Danzou wanted both Genin for obvious reasons, or at least, he thought they were. For one, both needed to be trained properly, with Naruto being a Jinjuuriki she would be Konoha's secret weapon. Two, Naruto and Sasuke were really close, they were a set; you couldn't have one without the other. Three, while he wanted them in ROOT, they wouldn't really work well with the program; they seemed to fight their hardest and could pull power out of nowhere when their emotions ran high. So the obvious solution was to train them himself. Sasuke, because he did leave the village needed some form of punishment. Naruto, for successfully getting Sasuke back, needed more of a reward… but this counsel would never allow it.

"There are two things on the agenda today." Homura spoke in a strong voice when the mass had quieted. "The punishments of Uchiha Sasuke, for trying to leave, and Uzumaki Naruto, for hurting Uchiha Sasuke more than necessary to bring him back."

Danzou thought that it was funny that these simpletons ignored the fact that Naruto's name, or at least, the name she carried for her own protection, was Uzumaki, the foreign royalty. Anyone with eyes could see who her father was. The only reason that he had lied to Hatake was to get at the girl, but his efforts had obviously not worked. There was no reason for the lie to carry on any farther, and while Hatake wouldn't ever want to give his charge to Danzou, Danzou was better than what he was sure the other two were planning. His late friend's old teammates probably wanted to either exile the girl, or kill her. Why do that when there were other, better alternatives? They really shouldn't be worried about her loyalty; it was the boy they needed to worry about. They could marry the boy off to keep him in the village, couldn't they?

Koharu smiled. "Let's take care of Sasuke first. Any suggestions on what we should do?"

One of the civilians stood up. "We believe that he tried to leave because of Uzumaki, I move that we pardon the poor boy."

Danzou sighed as Hiashi stood to argue. "Are you serious? Uchiha tried to commit treason, Uzumaki was just trying to get him back! He needs some kind of punishment! I say we should hold off on deciding on this issue until we know the facts, until then we can provide suggestions of punishments."

Danzou nodded. "I agree. However, seeing as he brought his injured teammate back to the village and his personality has taken a one-eighty, we should consider lessoning his punishment a little bit, if only slightly. If Uchiha had not brought her back as fast as he did Hiashi, she would most likely have died."

Hiashi nodded. "I see, but not punishing him at all is what I'm against. I say we put him on probation for at least a year and have Inoichi do a psych evaluation every other week. If by the end of the year he can prove to us sufficiently that he is loyal then we will take him off probation, but I would like to restrict him to missions inside the village for a further six months, just in case."

"And if he hasn't proven himself after that one year?" Danzou asked curiously. "What would you have us do then?"

"We lengthen his probation, and if he causes trouble we could always let him sit in a cell for a few days to a week." Hiashi replied.

That was a good punishment. "Let's take a vote then." Homura smiled. "All for Uchiha Sasuke being pardoned raise your hands."

Danzou, Hiashi and the other major ninja clans looked on in horror as the proxies for Naruto's two clans raised their hands with the minor clans and civilians.

"All for Hiashi's suggestion?" the major clans and Danzou raised their hands, but they could tell that they had lost this time. "Then it has been decided, Uchiha Sasuke will be pardoned."

Inoichi leaned over to speak with Hiashi and Danzou. "I don't care if Uchiha is pardoned, I am still going to request that Hokage-sama send him to me at least once a month and I definitely want to see him before he starts doing missions again."

"I will make sure to suggest it to her." Danzou told him. "Since he is pardoned now, there is nothing we can do about it, but I will suggest to her to keep the missions Team Seven takes stay in the Village for a while. Though we might have to cut the six months down to three…"

"As long as he is punished somehow." Hiashi shrugged. The rest of the major clans nodded.

"Naruto and Sakura don't deserve to be kept in the village…" Chouza said looking thoughtful. "Maybe if we offered them some kind of special training? Who here knew Minato and Kushina best and trained with them?"

"The loyal pups don't deserve to be punished also," Tsume agreed.

"That is a good idea. But why don't we take an hour lunch break so that we can stretch our legs before we deal with the Uzumaki issue?" Danzou said to the whole counsel. He got nods from everyone. "And someone make sure that Hatake is here this time…"

They were deciding his student's fates after all, he should have _some_ say…

Team Seven: Missing?

Team Seven was surprised when they got to Naruto's room, Jiraiya was already there. "Jiraiya-sama, I wasn't expecting you to be here." Kakashi said quietly as Sakura and Tsunade helped Sasuke sit on the other bed in the room so that he could get the medical attention he had been denying himself until he knew Naruto was better. "Although I probably should have, Sensei wouldn't trust anyone but you and me with her care…"

Jiraiya looked up at his student's student. "What do you mean Kakashi?"

Kakashi sat down next to Jiraiya and began to card his fingers through the girl's hair, since the other man was holding her had and Sakura was holding the other while watching Tsunade take care of Sasuke. "I mean, that as he lay there dying, Minato-sensei asked me to look after her while you were on missions."

Jiraiya laughed, "That is something Minato would do. On another note… how are you going to punish Uchiha? He put her in this condition…" he asked, turning his attention to the ninja his old teammate was tending.

"I'll probably send him to Inoichi, once before missions and then maybe twice a month after that. And, even though I hate punishing Sakura, for at least trying to keep him in the village before he ran, and Naruto, For succeeding in bringing him back, I'll probably restrict missions to inside the village walls for a while, though I don't know for how long."

Jiraiya nodded. "I wouldn't mind training Naruto-chan while you deal with Uchiha."

"Thank you. I know about your vices, but please, try to be attentive of her…"

"I will."

Sasuke had lowered his head as he heard the conversation turn to his punishment. He thought it was rather light, but seeing as he had come back on his own, and that he was carrying Naruto as if she could break at any second he knew that his punishment was going to be lighter than usual. Now all that had to happen was getting the seal removed, if it could be. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble Hokage-sama."

"At least you came back Gaki, that's all that really matters right now." Tsunade turned to Kakashi. "While you are dealing out his punishment, I can take Sakura on as a part-time apprentice so that you have more time to deal with him."

Kakashi bowed his head. "Thank you Tsunade-sama. How do you feel about that Sakura, you could become our medic-nin, would you like that? It would put your perfect chakra control to good use and I still remember the exercises that Sensei gave Rin to use to bolster her reserves. I could give them to you if you like."

"I would love to Kaka-sensei!" Sakura perked up. "I haven't been really useful to the team… I can't wait to start."

Kakashi nodded, reaching over to ruffle her hair, Sakura had come to be like a daughter to him and a sister to Naruto after she had learned the truth in Wave. "On that note Tsunade-sama, would you be willing to teach Naruto-chan and Sasuke, after his punishment is complete, the very basic of the medical ninjutsu?" Ino had started to turn into the same after the Chuunin Exams; they all looked up as the door opened and Inuzuka Tsume standing in the doorway.

"Hatake, come on, there's a counsel meeting going on."

Kakashi's single eye blinked. "If there's a meeting, why wasn't I called earlier?"

"I don't know, but the Counsel is deciding what to do with your students, they've already decided to pardon Uchiha."

Everyone's heads shot up. "But I tried to leave!" Sasuke protested. "I deserve some kind of punishment!"

"All the major clans agreed, except for… them." Tsume told them all. "Hiashi wanted to put you on probation for a year with visits to Inoichi and then, if you had proved your loyalty by the end of the year, you'd be allowed to take missions again, restricted to the village only for six months."

"I was thinking along the same lines." Kakashi admitted.

"As was I." Tsunade agreed.

Tsume pulled Kakashi out of the room. "We have a meeting to get to, Hokage-sama, I'll return Hatake-sensei when we are done."

Tsunade nodded in understanding. "Go then. And be careful of the elders. And, Kakashi, I'll have your answer when you get back."

Tsume nodded as she closed the door. "Come on."

Kakashi nodded. "Anything strange going on?" he asked.

"Yes, Danzou is actually on our side for once, although no one is sure what the hell he's planning." Tsume told him as they walked quickly down the hallway towards the exit of the hospital. "I have a bad feeling the this next part of the meeting is going to be even worse for us, the Uzumaki and the Namikaze clan proxies voted with the civilians, they are supposed to have Naruto's best wishes in mind, that they voted for the pardon instead of a more harsh punishment is troubling.

Kakashi nodded, he hated these meetings with a passion, but as much as he was late for everything else, he made it a point to be early for counsel meetings. "That is very troubling." He agreed. "And with Naruto-chan being in critical condition…" he couldn't finish his sentence.

Tsume nodded solemnly. Things weren't looking good for the child that had been their hero since a few hours after she was born. "Danzou is on our side, strangely enough."

"Oh really? Should we be worried that he's plotting something then?" Kakashi asked in a slightly joking manner.

"It's not certain, but he might. He wants to keep Naruto-sama in the village, but other than that… we don't know what he might be planning. We all know he wants her in ROOT…"

Kakashi nodded as they reached to counsel building and went in. a terrible sinking feeling settled at the bottom of his stomach, making his feel sick. "Well; here goes everything…"

(End Chapter Two)

Ok… editing isn't too hard… I noticed that some of you asked how Kakashi and Naruto could chat telepathically, my answer is thus: It is a trait of Naruto's father's clan the Namikaze, they are naturally telepathic.

The Namikaze are able to teach those that they bring into the clan (via adoption like Kakashi or marriage like Kushina) how to use telepathy, I invite you to read "A Fox's Tail" and "Aftermath: Minato's Tail" if you want to know how that is done.

The ability to speak telepathically is restricted to family and the family summons only so as not to be over powering. Namikaze to Namikaze, Fox to Fox and Fox to Namikaze.

Neph


End file.
